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Tech Implementation

Media.net Tech Implementation Rating: 4 out of 5.

Example of Media.net 300×250 ad unit

Creating an Ad Unit: Creating a new ad unit is a simple enough process. Choose an ad size, design layout, and customize colors. Then implementing the unit on your site involves simply copying and pasting a few lines of HTML code (Javascript) into your webpage’s source code.

Publisher Reporting & Admin Control Panel

Control Panel: The publisher admin control panel is easy to navigate, with different pages for reports, ad units, and site management. The main dashboard defaults to displaying a graph of revenues and impressions from the last seven days. Below the graph are revenue estimates for YTD, last month, this month, and last processed day.

Reporting: Creating reports is a very intuitive process. While the default is to display revenues and impressions from the last seven days, you can select today, yesterday, this week, last week, this month, last 30 days, or last month in the dropdown, or enter a custom date range. In the table below, you can sort by impressions, RPM, or estimated revenue. You are able to segment your reports by site or by individual ad unit.

Control Panel URL: https://control.media.net/home

Payment

Media.net Payment Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Publisher’s Share of Revenue: Unknown.

Payment Methods Available: wire transfer or PayPal.

Payment Terms: Net-30.

Minimum Payout Threshold: $100.

Account Help

Media.net Account Help Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Knowledge Base URL: None available.

Personal Account Manager: Yes.

Easy to Contact Support: Yes.

Editor’s Media.net Review

Media.net is one of the biggest alternatives to AdSense. This network features primarily contextual ads that work in a slightly different manner than standard display ad units. Though included within traditional sizes (e.g., 728×90 and 300×250), these ads often feature multiple linked keywords. Clicking on a keyword does NOT generate revenue for the publisher, but brings up a second screen displaying relevant ads. Revenue is generated when visitors click on one of these ads. In other words, Media.net ads function in the same way as AdSense link units.

Because Media.net features primarily contextual ads, there are a few items that you’ll need to be aware of. First, it may take a while for the ads to optimize to your site. The ads will analyze the content shown on your site, and display keywords that are deemed to be relevant to the surrounding content (i.e., contextual). As the sample size grows, an algorithm will determine which keywords generate the highest number of clicks and revenue for the particular audience. So if you’re going to test Media.net, you should commit to a fairly large sample size in order to accurately gauge the earnings potential of this network.

Second, Media.net ads will often work best when there are one or at most two ad units per page. If used in multiple positions, there will be considerable overlap among keywords, and users will experience diminishing returns in eRPMs. As such, start with using a single Media.net ad unit, and evaluate the incremental revenue generated on a unit-by-unit basis (i.e., with no other ad units running Media.net ads). You may also want to consider implementing frequency capping of Media.net ad impressions. For example, you may wish to limit impressions of Media.net units to two per user per day, and allow AdSense to kick in after that (this would make for a good experiment to run). In other words, Media.net is generally best used as a complement to AdSense, instead of as a complete replacement.

One of the biggest advantages (and ways in which this network differentiates itself from Google AdSense) is access to a dedicated account rep. Whereas AdSense is a bit of a “black hole” when it comes to questions or requests for help, Media.net gives publishers access to an actual human being who answers questions and even makes suggestions for opportunities to improve earnings. For anyone who has ever been frustrated by an inability to get questions answered by AdSense, this can be a valuable benefit.